Browsed byMonth: November 2017

One of the most interesting young independent artists has made it to the professional industry in a major way, gaining notorious acclaim through her work in Land of the Lustrous in particular. We’re talking about the multitalented Yoko Kuno, whose enchanting style is bound to make waves in the world of anime. Today we’ll look at what makes her work so special, as well as the less well-known sides to her career that allowed her to get to this point….

That hand drawn mechanical animation is in a tricky spot is no secret. As much as many of us personally love it, there’s no denying that it’s exhausting work that’s inherently more suited to 3D craft. Add to that the general issues the industry suffers from, and over the years you get less and less newcomers willing to specialize in this subject. That’s why we’ll be dedicating this new entry in our series about the anime creators who will shape…

One year after it became a megahit and to celebrate the birthday of its protagonist, we bring you a new Yuri On ICE!!! translation. Back when the show aired we had a lot of translated insight on the show’s outfit designs, so this time we’ll have something more animation-focused: an interview with renowned animator Tadashi Hiramatsu, who acted as its character designer and chief animation director.

Even the most disastrous anime productions rarely become the laughing stock of the industry itself, but DYNAMIC CHORD had already managed that within a few weeks. But beyond the undeniably funny clips and examples of continuity errors there’s the very sad reality of the current industry. Because as its turns out, everything that went wrong in this project is just an extreme case of the issues plaguing anime at the moment. And those are worth getting acquainted with, if we…

As the finale of this month’s Hyouka coverage we’d like to share this look into one of the aspects that make it such a special show: the recurring fantasies in an otherwise grounded series, which each episode’s staff was given immense creative freedom for. The results were unique aesthetics applied to sequences that articulated the inner feelings of the characters much better than dialogue tends to do.

Our final Hyouka staff translation is yet another conversation with its director and series composer, with perrhaps their most insightful look back on the series after it wrapped up. Enjoy this bittersweet adolescence tale one last time! Yasuhiro Takemoto – Anime series director, animator, unit director. Member of Kyoto Animation’s Board of Directors. Notable works include Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, High Speed!, and The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, among others. Shouji Gatou – Author, script writer. In charge of the series composition…

Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond got serious ─ not in the sense that it renounced to its amusing nonsense, but by getting together the strongest lineup of animators it can aspire to. Time to learn more about the spectacle they put together!

Now that Land of the Lustrous is at its halfway point, it feels like a good moment to look into the intertwined creative decisions that have led to such a special series, as an adaptation and on its own right. The staff have been fairly open about the production process too, which means we can peek behind the scenes a bit to look at their craft and the mindset behind it. Hopefully this will deepen your appreciation of the show,…

The penultimate Hyouka staff translation is an early interview with its creative duo originally published in the July 2012 issue of Newtype, which deals with their impressions and insight early into the production. We chose this one in particular since the grand finale will be another, much longer talk with them that happened once the series wrapped up – this way you’ll get to see how even the creators themselves evolved through the project. For now, enjoy this one! Yasuhiro Takemoto…

Let’s begin to catch up with Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond with a couple of episodes that allow a chance under the spotlight to some characters who didn’t get much focus in the first season. If you liked the cast and wished to learn more about them, the show’s finally delivering the adventures you wanted!